Archives for 2006

Recently, Canadian newspaper editorials have called into question our policy of recognizing multi-citizenships.

The Canadian ideal has been to distinguish ourselves as a “mosaic” rather than a melting pot. In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to officially adopt a policy of multiculturalism. This policy encourages immigrants to retain their culture, becoming if you will, “hyphenated” Canadians. This cultural combination has become a foundational point for Canadian society.

Service Canada (SC) and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) join to help integrate immigrants into the Canadian workforce.

Despite the Canadian government’s policy of ‘opening up the doors of immigration’ for skilled foreign workers, there is a growing need in the Canadian workforce.

Statistics Canada has warned that Canadians will soon face a labour shortage, as an estimated 40% of the Canadian skilled work force are over fifty years of age and are expected to retire within the next decade.

Canadian employers are even now noting a lack of skilled workers to fill job vacancies in their business, particularly in areas of booming trade and economic activity like Calgary, Alberta and the Toronto area of Southern Ontario.

At the same time experts are finding that some recently arrived educated immigrants are having difficulty finding work in their field of expertise as a result of not having Canadian specific workplace experience or language skills to land jobs they desire.

SC has recently financed $4-million towards a new project designed to address these issues and has joined with ACCC in order to aid skilled worker immigrants find work in their fields by helping to “Canadianize” them.

The Canadian Immigration Integration Project will rely on Canadian community colleges to develop post-graduate programs that will help integrate new immigrants into the Canadian workforce. The courses will teach skills in interviewing techniques and educate the students on Canadian labor laws, particularly in health, safety and workers’ rights legislation. A large focus of the program will be career-specific language courses. The project will also provide connections to professional associations and government bodies in order to aid new immigrants in finding employment.

The project is also being developed for use overseas even before immigrants arrive in Canada and is currently being tested in three countries, China, India and the Philippines.

The goals of the program are twofold: To help fill the current and future shortages in the Canadian workforce; and to help ease the transition process for new immigrants to Canada by helping them find work.

With the likelihood of another Federal election looming over Canada’s Conservative government, winning immigrant voters will make all the difference at the polls.

As the Liberal Party of Canada re-groups and inches closer to electing a new chief executive on Dec. 2, 2006, Liberal leader hopefuls are counting on the “immigrant vote” to lead their party to victory once again.

The Liberal Party of Canada knows that if it wishes to assume power they’ll need to tap into Canada’s vast and ever-increasing immigrant constituency, and re-vamping the current Canadian Immigration system has been emphasized in many platforms in the latest Liberal leadership race, most notably in the proposed initiatives presented by Liberal leadership hopefuls Joe Volpe, Gerard Kennedy, Maurizio Bevilacqua, and front-runner, Michael Ignatief.

Canada currently takes in an average of 260,000 newcomers a year, a number which Mr. Ignatieff, says should be increased to “at least” 350,000 newcomers per annum. He feels the current immigration processing system is too cumbersome and is not properly matching applicant qualifications with skill shortages and is also not doing enough to help foreign professionals qualify for practice in their field of expertise in Canada.

He has also gone on record stating that Canada needs to expand the family-class portion of its immigration system, which allows Canadians to sponsor family members who want to become permanent residents of Canada.

The Liberal Party of Canada has traditionally fared well with Immigrant Canadians, however Harper’s Conservative government is attempting to challenge conventional wisdom and position itself as Canada’s new “Party for Immigrants”. The Conservatives understand that if they wish to win the battle for majority status, they’ll have to take the fight to the streets of Ontario’s populous immigrant communities.

In fact, since being in office, the Prime Minister has signed-off on at least a half-dozen policy initiatives which directly affect Canadian Immigrants. “The bar is [set] higher for us,” says Goldy Hyder, a Conservative strategist, in reference to his party’s bid to shed any pre-conceived notions of intolerance once associated to it.

Mr. Harper has also claimed that he believes Canada’s cultural diversity is its “greatest strength”, and has reiterated his government’s commitment to “preserving and strengthening the cultural diversity that makes us strong”. There’s no question that Mr. Harper wants to portray his government as “immigrant-friendly”. His government is clearly encouraging a more “grass-roots” approach to electioneering and is engaging Canada’s ethnic constituency at the community level.

Backgrounder:

Demographically, Canada is being re-shaped by immigration. Assuming no changes occur to the current levels of immigration, fertility rates, or internal migration patterns, the next twenty years, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) will swell from five million to seven million people; Vancouver will see its population almost double in size from its current 1.6 million citizens to 2.8 million, and Ottawa’s population will also hover above 1.2 million from the 830,000 people it now has.

A report released by the organization sponsoring this event, Canadian Employee Relocation Council (CERC) states that immigration has accounted for over 70% of the growth in Canada’s labour force since 1999. In fact, Canada welcomes more immigrants per capita than any other immigrant-receiving nation.

“More and more, the role of immigration is important,” Richard Barnabe, deputy chief statistician for Statistics Canada says. “According to our projections, growth will depend solely on the contribution of immigration by about 2015-2017. However, while metropolitan areas such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are benefiting from the current immigration paradigm, rural areas and western provinces, such as Manitoba and Alberta, are struggling to convince people that there is a pleasant alternative to living in the Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver triumvirate.

Amid the current air of international terrorism, Canada has often been chastised for its perceived leniency regarding its immigration industry. Political pundits have suggested that Canada “close its doors” to immigrants as a preventative security measure. Prime Minister Stephen Harper however, has gone on record defending Canada’s current immigration policies, noting his commitment to a multicultural Canada.

The Liberal Party of Canada always faired well with Immigrant Canadians, however Harper’s Conservative government is attempting to challenge conventional wisdom and position itself as Canada’s new “Party for Immigrants”.

The Party is putting serious effort behind its attempt to win over the hearts and minds of ethnic Canadian voters. In fact, since being in office, the Prime Minister has signed-off on at least a half-dozen policy initiatives which directly affect Canadian Immigrants. “The bar is [set] higher for us,” says Goldy Hyder, a Conservative strategist, in reference to his party’s bid to shed any pre-conceived notions of intolerance once associated to it.

As if to demonstrate the Conservatives willingness to be seen as “Immigrant-friendly”, Mr. Harper has made some deliberately “liberal” choices in appointing his Cabinet Ministers. His government is clearly encouraging a more “grass-roots” approach to electioneering and is engaging Canada’s ethnic constituency at the community level.

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose speaks Portuguese and is often present at Portuguese community events. MP Barry Devolin speaks Korean and is also quite visible within the Korean community, and Health Minister Tony Clement, who is of Greek lineage, is doing his best to show Canada’s Greek immigrants his ancestral roots. Mr. Harper has even appointed a Muslim-Canadian, Wajid Khan, as his personal advice or on the Middle East and South Asia.

In fact, on one particularly busy, marathon-like weekend of Conservative image-building, MP Jason Kenney attended a dozen events, including gatherings of Afghans, Tamils, Sikhs, Armenians, Hindus and the Jewish community. Rattan Mall, Editor of The Indo-Canadian Voice Newspaper in British Columbia, says the Party’s gestures are not going unnoticed. Even the Chinese Canadian National Council has gone on record saying that the Chinese head tax has had a “restorative impact” on that particular Canadian community.

The Conservative push to build a solid immigrant constituency has included:

The Government reached out to Atlantic Canada’s largest Lebanese community recently, promising to do what it could to ease the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.

Immigration Minister Monte Solberg met with Lebanon’s honourary consul in Halifax. Mr. Solberg wanted to stress that his government was doing “everything it could” to help Canadian citizens in Lebanon adding that it has also “done what it can to bring peace to the Middle East.” He continued by saying that “People can disagree about the [Canadian government’s] methods”, however the goal is clear. “We want to make sure they’re [Lebanese Canadians] safe […] It is a moral obligation.”

Calls from loved ones caught between the crossfire of the most recent Middle East conflict are pouring in all across the country. Lebanese Canadians, numbering over 30,000 in Lebanon alone are frantically trying to return to Canada. In addition, there are a number of Lebanese citizens and university students already in Canada on visitor visas who are unwilling to return to their war-stricken homeland.

A fast-track process is available for Lebanese immigrants whose applications are in the system, said Solberg. Canada’s Immigration Department has designed a priority program to expedite the processing of applications by refugees who are in Canada and who want to reunite with dependent family members still in Lebanon.

The Immigration Department is also making all existing family-class applications in Lebanon a priority. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Monte Solberg was quick to stress that fast-track processing must still go through all the usual immigration medical and security checks.

Official Information:

DFAIT’s Emergency Operations Centre has been responding to phone calls and e-mails from both Canadians currently in Lebanon, and their family and friends in Canada.

We urge Canadians affected to contact the Emergency Operations Centre. From Canada, you can call toll-free at 1-800-387-3124.

From Lebanon, Canadians can call the Embassy at 961 (4) 713-900 or collect at 001-613-996-8885 or by e-mail at either sos@international.gc.ca or berut@international.gc.ca

This month marks the launch of the new CICNews.com! The good folks here at Campbell Cohen have been working hard to release the newest version of Canada ‘s ‘unofficial’ monthly immigration newsletter.

The new website has been completely re-designed from the ground up. We’ve made it easier to use, have included a comprehensive search function, added a forum, blog, news feed, and a helpful and ever-growing Canada immigration resources section.

What’s more, we have come up with – as you can see! – A new look and feel to the ever-popular Canada Immigration Newsletter. The monthly publication has enjoyed firm growth and is received by over 40,000 people worldwide. It is now better looking, and packed with more content than ever!

Construction is the single largest industry sector in Canada and it is also experiencing the greatest unfilled labour demand. According to the Construction Sector Council, in the next eight years, roughly 150,000 people will be required to meet impending worker shortages.

Due to the unwavering demand for skilled trades people, the CCA is formally asking the federal government to introduce changes to the immigration system that will facilitate entry of construction workers into Canada on both a temporary and permanent basis.

“Although aggressive efforts by all industry players must continue in order to recruit Canadians to the construction industry, the fact remains that immigration policy must play a bigger role in meeting future labour demand,” explains Michael Atkinson, President of the Canadian Construction Association.

In its request to Prime Minister Harper, CCA is issuing the following
recommendations:

• Canada needs to adopt a proactive immigration policy that will
target individuals with needed skills, and expedite their entry into Canada .

• The points system used to screen for permanent residents
must be revised to put greater emphasis on experience and
arranged employment in specific high demand skills categories.

• Under the Temporary Worker Program, the list of accepted
occupations must be expanded to include construction trades, and
there must also be quicker recognition of shortages that would qualify
under the Temporary Worker Program.

• A program similar to the existing ‘Seasonal Agricultural Worker
Program’ (SAWP) should be available to the construction industry.

• A process should be developed to resolve the issue of
undocumented workers that does not involve deportation.

• The federal government needs to work more closely with provinces to expand the ‘Provincial Nominee Programs’ addressing the specific needs of Canada ‘s construction trades.